Attempt @ Maja e Lucës

Maja e Lucës (1833 Meter) had long been on our wishlist, from the time we got a glimpse of it from the Kurvelesh valley, and when looking at it from the Sarande-Delvine area.

The summit of Maja e Lucës, as one of the high-points in the Kurvelesh-Sarande-Gjirokaster triangle, catches the first and the last daylight for a dramatic effect, and can be seen from afar. This betrays the fact that Maja Lucës is a remote mountain, and difficult to reach from any direction. We had explored various starting points, and eventually settled on Fushe Bardhë. Our trailhead is another 3.5 kilometer on a dirt road (manageable by most cars) away from the guesthouse.

Maja Lucës has many flocks of sheep, but very little in way of good trails, and way-finding can be a game of hit-and-miss. As usual, we had identified a route via google earth, but our local informants let us to an ascent without a visible trail. For the descent from the summit ridge we selected a more eastern pass, and while there was a trail it had apparently not been used for years.

Having lost some time during the ascent, and given the already short days in October, we did not reach the summit. Even from the summit ridge, the views are excellent and reach as far as Corfu Island.

From a false summit where we decided to turn back, the way to the highest point appeared to be clear and without difficulty, but long and with some considerable up-and down. At least we were closer to the summit than we had been ever before, and richer by the experience.